Mr Justice Frederick Morris yesterday warned a retired garda that if he was found to be obstructing the tribunal in the way he answered questions, he would be guilty of a criminal offence for which he would be punished.
John Nicholson was asked if he wanted to reconsider his position. He said he stood by everything he had said in the witness box.
The chairman said he proposed to keep an open mind on his evidence until the end of the tribunal, but it was a possibility that at the end he would form a view that his evidence had obstructed the tribunal. If that were the case it would be for another, not for him, to decide what should be done.
"It is right that you should know that this is something that is in my mind and it is right that you should know that if it is decided that your conduct in the way you've been answering questions, over the last number of days, is such as to obstruct the tribunal you are guilty of a criminal offence for which you will be punished," he said.
Paul McDermott SC, for the tribunal, asked Mr Nicholson if he stood by everything he had said over several days in the witness box. He replied: "Yes".
Mr Nicholson, who was based in Sligo, has given evidence that he submitted false certificates of loss of earnings in 1999 for court expenses for Bernard Conlon, a witness in a licensing case against the McBreartys in Co Donegal.
He said Det Sgt John White asked him to get the certificates as Mr Conlon was an important witness. Mr Nicholson got them but did not know they were forged and said Sgt White never asked for forged documents.
Mr Nicholson pleaded guilty and was prosecuted in the District Court in 2002 for submitting forged certificates. It was when the chairman sought further information on the certificates that led to his warning to the witness.
Mr Nicholson said he had asked Garda John Keogh, now deceased, to provide certificates of loss of earnings for Mr Conlon.
At the end of Mr Nicholson's evidence, the chairman said: "While I keep open-minded, the position is that I might consider you have obstructed the tribunal."